CHAPTER 6 — The Truth They Buried Alive
04:59... 04:58...
The bunker trembled beneath Blackstone Prison.
A deafening metallic roar echoed through the underground tunnels as clouds of white vapor crawled across the floor.
Daniel stared at the woman standing before him.
His voice barely came out.
"...Mom?"
Emily's eyes filled with tears.
For twenty-five years she had dreamed of hearing that word again.
But there wasn't time.
She grabbed Daniel's arm.
"We have less than five minutes."
Marcus leaned against the wall, struggling to stay conscious.
"Take him to the control chamber."
Emily nodded.
Together, they rushed through the hidden passage while alarms screamed around them.
Behind them, the governor laughed.
"You still don't understand!"
"No matter what you shut down..."
"The real weapon has already awakened."
Daniel stopped.
"What weapon?"
The governor smiled through blood.
"The prisoners."
He pressed another hidden switch.
Across Blackstone, hundreds of cell doors unlocked at once.
But instead of escaping...
More than five hundred inmates marched toward the underground bunker.
Not as criminals.
As soldiers.
Each of them wore the same strange tattoo behind their left ear.
Marcus whispered in horror,
"They've been experimenting on them..."
Emily's face turned pale.
"The prison wasn't testing viruses."
"It was testing mind control."
The inmates moved with perfect synchronization, their eyes empty, their expressions emotionless.
One command echoed through the loudspeakers.
"Protect Project Lazarus."
The prisoners attacked every guard who stood in their way.
The bunker became a battlefield.
Daniel, Emily, and Marcus finally reached a giant steel door marked:
LEVEL OMEGA — AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY
Inside was a circular control room filled with monitors.
At its center stood a glass chamber.
Inside the chamber...
A little girl.
No older than eight.
She was asleep.
Connected to dozens of machines.
Daniel frowned.
"Who is she?"
Emily slowly lowered her weapon.
Her hands began to shake.
Marcus closed his eyes.
"They told me she died..."
Daniel looked at him.
"What are you talking about?"
Marcus stepped toward the glass.
Tears rolled down his face.
"She's your sister."
Daniel felt the world collapse beneath his feet.
"My... sister?"
Marcus nodded.
"When your mother escaped twenty-five years ago..."
"She wasn't carrying one child."
"She was carrying twins."
Daniel's knees nearly gave out.
"I had a twin sister?"
Emily whispered,
"They stole her the day she was born."
"They told us she had died during delivery."
Marcus clenched his fists.
"They raised her inside this laboratory."
"They turned her into Project Lazarus."
Suddenly...
The little girl's eyes slowly opened.
Every monitor in the room exploded with warning messages.
A computerized voice echoed through the bunker.
PROJECT LAZARUS ONLINE.
The countdown stopped at exactly...
00:01
Then the little girl looked directly at Daniel...
Smiled...
May you like
And softly whispered through the speakers—
"Hello, big brother."
